For if loving is the answer then who’s the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you’ve never seen before?
Oh there’s love, oh there’s love.

“Wedding Song (There is Love)” is written and sung by Paul, from the great folk group Peter, Paul & Mary. This is the one of the best and most unique wedding songs. It is written by a great artist who you know– but you might not recognize his name. Paul asks “what is a wedding?” and sings a beautiful melody with simple instrumentation that explains marriage and the importance of weddings.

The song has religious overtones–specifically Christian overtones- but it doesn’t get bogged down in them and Stookey allows for more universal themes of love and community to carry the song. It is religious but can appeal to atheists–it celebrates the union of two souls.

For Paul, weddings are a union of two spirits, and the culmination of the life of a man and a woman (remember there was no such thing as gay weddings back then). It is a time of growing up and leaving the nest. This is how it always has been and how it always will be. But why get married at all? Because whenever two people come together to celebrate their love for each other and declare their love for each other, God also is there with you.

Stookey’s voice on “Wedding Song (There is Love)” is so pure and the simple instrumentation is heavenly. Interestingly, I have never heard this at a wedding- or on the radio. It feels like the type of vibe and message I would want at my wedding.

Wedding Song (There is Love) Lyrics

He is now to be among you at the calling of your hearts,
Rest assured this troubadour is acting on His part.
The union of your spirits here has caused Him to remain,
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name.
There is love, there is love.

Well a man shall leave his mother, and a woman leave her home,
They shall travel on to where the two shall be as one.
As it was in the beginning is now until the end,
A woman draws her life from man and gives it back again.
And there is love, there is love.

Well then what’s to be the reason for becoming man and wife?
Is it love that brings you here or love that gives you life?
For if loving is the answer then who’s the giving for?
Do you believe in something that you’ve never seen before?
Oh there’s love, oh there’s love.

Oh, the marriage of your spirits here has caused Him to remain,
For whenever two or more of you are gathered in His name.
There is love, oh there’s love.

Songwriters: Noel Paul Stookey

I love you more then have/
Ever found the way to say to you.

Ben Fold’s “The Luckiest” is an interesting concept for a love song. Folds sings about his appreciation for finding the love of his life and of the small percent chance that they found each other. What if they had been born in the same places, but he was born 50 years earlier? It wouldn’t have worked out. So many variables had to match up perfectly for them to find each other and he feels like the luckiest man to have found her.

Folds’ voice is great in “The Luckiest”, and it is his best work as a solo artist. We can hear his sense of awe and appreciation in his voice—and also his love for his beloved—in the song. Folds’ falsetto sounds especially good here. The piano accompaniment is perfect. It is minimal but it complements the lyrics quite well. It is also a non-standard pattern in the verses. I like the added orchestration that comes in halfway through “The Luckiest”. It seems somewhat formulaic, but it works perfectly.

The Luckiest Lyrics

I don’t get many things right the first time,
In fact, I am told that a lot.
Now I know all the wrong turns the stumbles,
And falls brought me here.
And where was I before the day,
That I first saw your lovely face?
Now I see it every day.
And I know-

That I am, I am, I am, the luckiest.

What if I had been born fifty years before you,
In a house on the street
Where you lived?
Maybe I’d be outside as you passed on your bike. Would I know?
And in a wide sea of eyes
I see one pair that I recognize.
And I know-

That I am, I am, I am, the luckiest.

I love you more then have
Ever found the way to say
To you.

Next door there’s an old man who lived to his nineties and one day
Passed away in his sleep.
And his wife, she stayed for a couple of days, and passed away.
I’m sorry I know that’s a strange way to tell you that I know we belong.
That I know-
That I am, I am, I am, the luckiest.

Songwriters: Ben Folds